Clinton adds economist arguments to Obama backing

According to The Huffington Post, former President Bill Clinton added some depth to his argument that President Barack Obama needs four more years to fix the economy on Thursday night, citing an economist often used by Republicans to criticize the national debt.

Clinton, at a rally of approximately 20,000, commanded the crowd’s attention when he said, “The whole election may come down to this, this one thing.”

He went on to describe how no past president possibly could have restored the American economy in just four years following the economic collapse the United States experienced in 2008. He then cited a book called This Time It's Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, by Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, which has become a reference point concerning the nation’s $16 trillion debt.

Clinton then related a phone conversation he had had with Ragoff. "I called him on the phone and I said, 'I read this very carefully. I just have a question. Do you believe that there's any way America could have fully recovered from that crash in four years?'" Clinton said. "He said, 'Lord no.'"

According to Clinton, Ragoff says the average recovery for an economic collapse of the scale the United States experienced is 10 years.

Naturally, Clinton says Obama’s actions should allow the United States to beat that 10 year average.